If I were to clone myself at the age of 70, would the child even though physically in the stages of childhood, have similar deterioration and symptoms of aging as me?

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Depending on the tissue that is taken, there could be a risk of mutations that have been introduced (such as skin exposed to the sun), but a cloned young animal wouldn't have similar signs of aging as the old donor.

Staff: Mentor

Depending on the tissue that is taken, there could be a risk of mutations that have been introduced (such as skin exposed to the sun), but a cloned young animal wouldn't have similar signs of aging as the old donor.

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I thought Dolly had problems because of short telomeres? Or was it just a media hype?

The first wave of increased press coverage occurred when, at one year old, tests revealed that Dolly's telomeres were shorter than those expected for sheep of that age.

Telomeres are sections of DNA found at the end of each chromosome. When the chromosomes are replicated during cell division a small portion of the telomeres are lost. They get shorter and shorter as more cell divisions occur and as animals age. This led to speculation in the press that animals cloned from cells obtained from an adult animal would age prematurely and die early. This was later shown to be untrue and in fact the telomere length is restored during the cloning process.

Although Dolly's telomeres appeared shorter than other sheep of a similar age they certainly were not of an old animal. Extensive health screens carried out at the time failed to identify any abnormality with Dolly that would suggest premature aging.